The Lullaby
by dewa95
Summary: Everyone is finally settled. Yusuke going between Human and Demon Worlds, Kurama in a University with both Kuwabara and Keiko, Koenma happy about the currrent peace in all the worlds. Hiei comes to Human World with a companion. Two to be exact. His arrival is the start of a new adventure to our gang. Prequel to my other fic "She Watched". Read and Review
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first rewritten chapter, hope you like it.**

**Chapter 1**

It was raining. The figure on the temple stairs was hurrying with a woman with brown hair and eyes whose expression was steadily growing more and more irritated and she shot her companion a withering look that said _'Hurry up or else'_. Her patience, however, finally snapped when her companion merely yawned and started poking his ear with his eye closed. He was moving casually behind her as if it weren't raining and they weren't getting soaked.

"Let's hurry, Yusuke!" she almost screeched at him, shivering slightly in the cold, "it's getting colder."

_How can someone be so annoying at ten in the morning? _She thought to herself. They'd already asked Kuwabara to take their luggage as they were planning on staying at the temple for the rest of the summer vacation. That meant they were staying at the huge temple for about two months. So their clothes were safe from the rain.

"Chill, Keiko! We both know the real reason you want to hurry. It's because Yukina's always happier with the Shorty around and the gang feels whole again," the male with the slicked back hair stated.

"You got me. Although it would be nice to get out of this cold," she said, shivering again, "Come to think of it why is he here now all of a sudden? Not that I don't want him to be around but it's been a while since I've seen him. Have you seen him around Demon World? You were there for a couple of months after all."

"Nah, Mukuro's kept him completely under wraps for a while now. Kurama's been there and he told me Mukuro didn't allow him to visit either and this was around 5 months ago. Kurama told me Hiei was fine though, so I didn't bother him. His energy felt fine a couple months ago, so I left it at that," Yusuke answered, his eyes narrowing as he looked at how many stairs he still had to climb.

"What about now, you sense anything different?" she asked.

"Nah, nothing's wrong with the Shorty's energy. Though there are couple of unknown energy signatures aside from his. And since Hiei's brought them around, I hope they don't attack us on sight. I also sense Kuwabara and Kurama around as well," Yusuke muttered above the rain pounding.

It was then Keiko's brown eyes narrowed in anger and she stopped. What happened next was something all their friends were familiar with. "Are you telling me we're late again? Yusuke!" she yelled as she slapped him.

"Hey, what the hell Keiko?" he shouted jumping away from her as she attempted to slap him again.

"We're late again because of you. We are always late! So fix this," she screeched.

"Okay! Okay! Stop trying to hit me for a second, damn it. Geez, come' ere we'll get there in a second now," he said as he picked her up bridal style and flew up the stairs.

The moment they reached the temple they found Kuwabara and Yukina waiting for them with towels to dry off.

"Took you long enough, eh Urameshi? Yukina, Kurama and I arrived about half hour ago. And it's nice to see good ol 'Keiko keepin' you in line again," he said with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Oh, yeah. You wanna piece of me, dumbass," Yusuke said getting ready to kick his best friend's ass.

Keiko who had been patiently ignoring them decided it was time to interfere when she saw Yukina's smile which suddenly looked dangerous on her usually sweet face. Her eyes were closed but there was a sudden tension in her lean figure that was never there before.

"Kazuma," she said in a dangerous tone that said _'you'll have hell to pay if you don't listen'_, "Hiei-san is sleeping right now. I don't know how he managed to stay asleep with all this ruckus but if you get any more louder, it will be enough to wake him and he'll kill you if that happens."

This was all said with a sweet little smile on her face but Yusuke saw shivers run up his best friend's back.

_Serves him right. Looks like sweet little Yukina knows how to threaten people. Though it's a little creepy how much she looked like Hiei there for a second_he thought as he lost his battle against the laughter that threatened to overwhelm him.

"And also I want him to get as much rest as possible. Genkai-sama told me that he has multiple injuries. I tried to go to his room to heal him but his little pet told me not to disturb Hiei-san. I can only hope he's doing okay in there," she looked extremely concerned as she said this and Yusuke soon sobered up. Kuwabara, too kept his mouth shut. "Well let's get you inside now, wouldn't want you to catch cold now."

"Wait, did you say pet?" Yusuke said as his mind caught up with the first half of her sentence that contained a pet. But the others ignored him. "Come on guys, you can't just ignore me," he pouted.

After walking down the hallway of Genkai's large temple they finally reached the living room which currently housed the aforementioned woman and Kurama who were both drinking their tea quietly. The rain which had simply been a drizzle before seemed to be pounding outside now and the lightning flashing through the sky were giving an ominous effect to the room.

"Been a while, dimwit!" Genkai said as she promptly kicked Yusuke in the back of his head. "What was that for, you old hag?" Yusuke yelled as he began rubbing the back of his head. "I don't pay attention for two seconds and you kick me in the head."

"That was for making huge amounts of noise on your way up especially when I told you to be as quiet as possible. It's a wonder Hiei's still asleep and I would like to keep it that way. He was tired enough as it is from all those injuries and those migraines he seemed to be having. And Mukuro who personally escorted him here told me to let him and his companions wake up on their own and not to disturb their sleep. So I'm just being a gracious host," Genkai grumbled sipping her tea, as if the thoughts being a gracious host were physically painful for her.

"Don't tell me you're scared-," Yusuke began only to be cut-off by Kurama who said, "_Companions_? I thought there was only one- the cat."

"Yes one of them is a demon cat who is extremely hell-bent on protecting its' master, though I don't know why our recluse demon friend would need a protector. Though I think it is more for the other companion," she answered in a fairly raspy voice, "And don't think about asking me about his other companion."

"Why is that?" Kuwabara asked his first words since entering the room.

"Why? Because an old woman has to have her entertainment and I am not interested in the least bit in Hiei's business," she replied.

Everyone in the room sweat-dropped at that.

"Please, Master Genkai. Don't tell me you don't find this interesting. Hiei disappears for 6 months and visits all of a sudden injured with a demon-cat and a companion that is unknown to us. Mukuro herself has escorted him. And this isn't interesting, you say?" Kurama asked.

Yusuke and the others sat back and watched as they knew Kurama would get some answers from the Great Spirit master. And they weren't surprised when she gave up a little bit of information to keep their curiosity satisfied and their minds to speculating.

"No, I don't have anything to say about her," she said drinking her tea. They knew it was the last piece of information she'd divulge, so Yusuke decided to open his mouth.

"So it's a she, is it?" he said wagging his eyebrows at her and his eyes flashed with amusement as he saw Keiko's face grow beet red.

"Yusuke! Get your mind out of the gutter, you idiot," Keiko yelled smacking him again.

"Ow, Keiko that hurt," Yusuke grumbled and he was satisfied.

Kurama had gotten to the temple as soon as Master Genkai called him at seven in the morning to tell him about Hiei. He had already decided to stay at Genkai's for the summer. So he was already packed. All that was needed was to get there and he got there as fast as he could.

The temple was rather quiet when he got there as none of his obnoxiously loud friends had arrived. He went straight to meet Genkai once he got there. She was sitting on the porch sipping what would be first of the many cups of tea she'd usually drink. She looked up once he got there.

"It's going to rain today," she said quietly.

"It will," he answered just as quietly. "So he's back."

"For now," she said, sipping her tea.

"How is he?"

"He is going to sleep for a while. You should leave him be, he has enough on his plate right now."

"There is someone else here besides Hiei. Who _is_ that?"

"Why don't you go find out and let this old woman be?!" Genkai replied testily. "I didn't get the chance to sleep properly and it's too early to be interrogated by brats."

Kurama knew he had to get away before Genkai really blew a gasket. So he made his way get his fix of coffee for the day to go check on his friend and. The weird thing was Kurama needed his first drink of the day to always be a coffee. This was a nasty habit he'd picked up at the dark tournament. One his mother hated. Contrary to what most people thought he wasn't a morning person. He hated mornings as much as Hiei hated the humans' weakness against their kind. Hiei usually kept up watch over all of them during the night on the Island. So it was up to him to keep Hiei safe for a span of few hours in the morning as he slept as he only needed a few hours of sleep. So for the sake of his safety and Hiei's, he let himself get addicted to the bitter stuff.

He went into the kitchen and with practiced ease, started making himself his much needed fix for the day. He soon got lost in the familiar sensation of Hiei's energy, the energy which was currently very concentrated in the room that currently housed the Fire demon. So concentrated that a lower class demon would get incinerated and anyone above an upper B class would get instant third degree burns.

_That's strange he thought. I specifically remember him telling me about his instincts working this way was when he was a child living in the Demon Realm. He told me that when he let his instincts do the job he just attracted too much attention and he couldn't keep a low profile. After a while he told me that he had just trained his body to wake up at the slightest noise. He told he had to do it so that he wouldn't destroy everything that touched him. He trusts us. I know that because he's fallen asleep in our presence for hours together even when we make the worst kind of noise and never did his instincts take over. But now feeling his energy I can only say that whatever happened in the Demon World must be really frustrating._

He sighed. _So many questions… and the one who can give me the answers is fast asleep…._

The taste of the bitter drink was a welcome relief to his person. The relished the taste of the hot beverage and calmed his mind. He cleaned up the mess he created in the kitchen which was very minimal to what it could have been if it were Kazuma instead of himself. That man regardless of his spiritual prowess and all the kind heartedness couldn't cook to save his life. He chuckled remembering the onetime Genkai had allowed him into the kitchen as the group had to get a few things sorted on the outside of the temple. The sight that greeted them when they came into the kitchen was fascinating to him…. they'd only been gone for an at most. But the kitchen looked like a warzone when they returned. Almost as if a nuclear bomb blew up right there in kitchen throwing the mess everywhere. Needless to say Genkai had been less than thrilled to let him back into the kitchen after that.

He then soundlessly began to walk to where his friend's room was. He sensed a strange energy outside the door. And the closer he got to the room the stranger the energy outside his friend's room felt. He turned another corner mindlessly but came to a stop as a golden furred cat stopped him with a low warning growl.

He stared at the cat for a few seconds determining the race and the clan it belonged to. However he quickly raised his arms in surrender to the cat that stood before him with its hackles on edge.

He approached it cautiously and lowered himself down to the cat's level and said, "I mean your master no harm. I just came here to check on him."

_Stay away from Hiei, Yoko Kurama. Hiei needs his rest. And don't look so surprised. I am Hiei's guardian after all. You are blocks are thick and strong but they are not as strong as the ones Hiei's been born with. The only person who can completely block me out right now is Hiei._

His eyebrow rose as the soft feminine tone that sounded in his mind but the shock didn't last long as his companion for the moment explained why or should he say how his mental barriers had been breached.

"I see. I'll keep that in mind. So wi-"

_The idiot told me specifically not to entertain you. So scram, Foxboy. You'll see him when he wakes up and _he _will answer your questions personally. I am not playing messenger._

"Idiot?" he questioned, "I assume that would be Hiei. He seriously lets you call him that?"

The cat snorted. _It is. He is the biggest idiot on this planet, though he tells me there are bigger idiots than him but I am yet to see them. And yes he does allow me to call him that. You see I've charmed him enough to get away with it._

His eyebrows rose again. _Hiei …..charmed….? _ But he shook his head and stood back up. "Very well then. Can I trust you to get me or Genkai in case he needs sudden healing? He is injured after all."

_I will although I am completely capable of healing on my own._

He nodded and made his way back to living room and found Genkai sitting there. He too took a seat at the table. A table where he had his first food fight about 9 months ago. The memory amused him to no end. His friends found out that he had never been in a food fight before and made it their mission to make him experience that. According to them it was the best human experiences. How wrong they had been. The food fight was nightmare for him. The time it took him to clean is hair after that though..….. he shook his head to clear himself of that memory. But the food fight was fun while it lasted. That is until Genkai came there to kick them all and made them clean up the mess they created.

He looked at Genkai and started to speak when she gave him a look that said _not to bother her with his findings._ So he kept his mouth shut and started to think of Hiei's little cat companion.

It belonged to the Kuro Neko clan. That would only mean that Hiei belonged to the Ryuu clan of the fire demons as these cats had sworn their allegiance to the demons of that clan. And the color of the cat's fur only meant that Hiei was Kito's son. He inwardly smirked at the thought of Hiei being _that_ man's son.

Soon he felt two familiar energies coming up the stairs but made no move to go greet them. He was lost to his musings. In the back of his mind he noted that Kazuma and Yukina would take another fifteen minutes to get all the way up the stairs. He also noted that the rain would also be starting in the next fifteen minutes. They should get there soon and hopefully they wouldn't get drenched.

The larger part of his mind though lingered on the time he went to visit Hiei in the Demon world….

(Flashback begin)

_He had been walking down the path leading to Mukuro's giant bug castle. It had been nearly 7 months since he visited demon world, so he decided to take the scenic route to his destination. Demon _

_The main reason for his travel was because Hiei hadn't visited him for the sparring match a month ago and the things that happened during that month. But his short friend's continued absence didn't worry him slightest. His friend could take care of himself if anything did happen. After all he was one of the strongest and most feared demons of the Demon Realm what with him being an S-class and the heir to the current Lord of Alaric. But a few days after their supposed spar he heard from the Prince of the Spirit World, Koenma that there were some unusual energy spurts and releases that came specifically from Alaric and he also heard from Yomi that the unusual energy had been getting stronger and stronger. So he decided to investigate and meet with his friend._Two birds with one stone_ or so__ they said._

_He had reached the beginning of Mukuro's territory when the demon lord herself decided to welcome him._

"_Mukuro, I am not here as a threat. I just came here to investigate on the increased energy levels and demon activity in your area. Koenma sent me. Although I know he doesn't have any authority here in demon world, he sent me to make sure nothing happened. And there is also my reason of visiting Hiei," he said turning around to look straight Mukuro's one good eye._

_But Mukuro was already shaking her head by the time he finished his monologue._

"_Kurama, the princes' concern for the increasing energy spurts is unneeded. We have already contained the situation. So there is no need to investigate. As for Hiei, he's occupied at the moment. He is dealing with the demon causing these strange outbursts. He cannot leave his post anytime soon until that demon is contained," she answered. _

_Her tone seemed genuine enough and yet there was something in her eye that made him suspicious of her. And just like someone of her intelligence level she read the distrust instantly and her next statement confirmed it._

"_There really is nothing to worry about Kurama. Hiei is in the middle of a deep meditation that is helping him cope against the beast. He is using his Jagan to subdue the demon but it is taking a lot of effort so he decided to unite their minds and slip into meditation to subdue it a lot more effectively," she said._

_Although this too seemed genuine there was an odd glint in her eyes whenever she talked about the beast. Kurama decided to store that tidbit for later and said rather than asked, "So there is no way I can meet him right now."_

_He eyed her for one more second before turned halfway around so she could only see half of his face and continued, "Let's drop the façade Mukuro. Tell me everything. I can't feel much of Hiei's energy and the beast's energy is so overwhelming that I'm surprised half the people here are still alive. And you're telling me that Hiei is subduing the beast when he has barely any power left? I'd like to know the truth now."_

_Mukuro's one good eye had narrowed at that and she continued staring at him for a moment before saying, "I am telling you the truth Kurama. Hiei is extremely busy as of now and will continue to be for another month or so. And that's all I can say. I can't allow anyone to pass right now. And you're right about the beast's energy being overwhelming which is one of the exact reasons why I have sent many of my lower level demons to go guard the borders so they don't get caught in the crossfire if you know what I mean. But don't worry about Hiei. He's relatively unha-"_

_Mukuro's statement got cut-off as they both felt an extremely powerful aura engulf them._

_Shivers went down Kurama's spine the second he felt that energy. There were beads of sweat pouring down his face and back instantly. Mukuro's face turned pale and soon they were enclosed in an extremely powerful barrier Mukuro herself had created._

"_Hiei," he whispered in an anxious tone._

"_Hiei is safe, Kurama. Don't worry. The only thing we need to be concerned for now are ourselves," Mukuro reassured in a rather clipped tone and then continued, "and don't give me that look. Hiei is absolutely safe."_

_Kurama trusted her word on Hiei's safety and their own inside Mukuro's barrier at the moment. So Kurama asked the one question that had been on the forefront of his mind "What is that energy Mukuro? This energy… it has even you worried."_

_Just then the energy of the beast flared again stronger than before._

_Kurama never knew that Mukuro's face could get any paler than before but it had. And soon his host began speaking in a quiet, hurried tone "Please leave, Kurama. I can't answer anymore of your questions. I have other things to attend to-"_

"_But Mukuro-" Kurama tried to cut her off only to be cut-off by the said person again._

"_You don't understand," she yelled, "Get. Out. Of. Here right now. Tell Koenma that everything will be back to normal within another month. If you don't listen to me now I will kill you right here, right now. Please leave." Her own energy seemed to be increasing threateningly inside her barrier._

_Kurama knew not to push the lord and he also knew that he wouldn't get any more answers. So he turned around and decided to walk away. And the second he turned around he felt Mukuro's energy slip away._

(End Flashback)

His senses told him that Yukina and Kazuma had arrived about ten minutes ago and were currently in the kitchen making tea- more precisely Yukina making the tea and Kazuma chattering to her. Yukina's soft feminine giggles and Kazuma's more rambunctious snorts could be heard all the way from the living room. He once again lost himself to his thoughts…..

He couldn't do anything after she slipped away and prayed to the Gods that whatever she said was true. So he came back to the Human Realm. He told Koenma everything that happened. From meeting Mukuro to the energy blasts, everything. Every single one of them had gotten used to the peace that engulfed the three worlds. It had been a while since Koenma had asked any of them for their help in a serious mission. So they had easily gotten used to the peace. Kurama who had worked in his step-father's company decided that he wanted to study botany in college. His human family was not going to die anytime soon so he thought he might as well enjoy his stay here in human world doing something he loved. Both his mother and step-father were supportive of that. So he'd started university with Keiko and Kuwabara.

In truth they'd all gotten used to the peace. There were profound changes in the Demon World too. Especially in the demon lords. Enki had decided not to take their lands away. Even Yomi decided that he'd just sit back and watch Shura grow and get better in fighting. Mukuro had lost her blood lust and had decided to patrol the borders of demon world the ruler notwithstanding and rule over her lands. It had been long decided that both Mukuro and Yomi were not going to participate in the next tournaments. Even Yusuke was starting to get comfortable with the peace. That was the reason why Koenma was so worried. Peace was finally coming to be true as most A-class and B-class demons were staying on their side. Only C and D class demons were moving around but they were soon exterminated either by Yusuke or Kurama himself if they'd attacked any humans. But with these strange outbursts Koenma feared another rise in evil which was the reason why decided to go to tell Kurama in the first place hoping that the fox would do something to alleviate his fears.

But Kurama himself was not in the mood to get over the peace so he'd waited a month just like Mukuro asked. And a month later the energy that had been rocking the spirit world monitors disappeared just as Mukuro said they would. Koenma was happy that the energy was finally gone. But Kurama had another concern as the time passed. Hiei was still gone. And he'd appeared now. In one of Genkai's rooms, resting.

Kurama looked up when Yukina came into the living room with some tea for all them. He thanked her with a genuine smile and she smiled back. He took a closer look at her and pondered her growth in the past several months when Yukina question brought him out.

"You seem awfully lost in your thoughts there Kurama-san. Is there anything you'd wish to share?" she asked looking genuinely concerned. Kuwabara too looked at him at those asking if he were okay.

He smiled at their genuine concern and answered them saying he was alright. Kazuma then started telling Yukina about college and he too not wanting to surrender to his morose thoughts joined in on the discussion. Another hour passed during this time. The raining seemed to be pouring now. The temperature in the room got slightly chilly for a moment before Kazuma turned the heater on. He thought of how quickly time seemed to pass when he noticed two more energy signatures on the steps. Yukina and Kazuma stood up and went to get some towels to help the incomers dry off.

So Yusuke and Keiko were making their way up stairs in the rain Kurama chuckled. Knowing the brunettes temper he could only wish the former Spirit detective didn't irritate her too much. But his hopes were dashed as he soon heard the commotion on the stairs. He could only sigh after that.

Everyone had somehow occupied themselves in doing various things after the greetings the conversation that followed Yusuke's arrival. Keiko had dragged off Yukina to the kitchen to prepare lunch for all of them. And Genkai was sitting seemingly in a trance and no one dared to disturb her.

Yusuke who was now playing video games playing against Kuwabara to put the game on pause when he noticed Yusuke was paying attention to Kurama instead of the game in front of him.

"So Foxboy what's got you thinking so deep?" Yusuke asked.

"I was thinking about the time I went to visit Hiei in Mukuro's land and got booted off her property," Kurama said, "I wonder why Mukuro put him in isolation for nearly 6 months and then decidedly escorted him to the Human world herself now."

"Yeah, quite strange, ain't it? I just hope Hiei would tell us what's going on though," Yusuke muttered as he lay on his back with his arms pillowing his head, his face somber.

Kuwabara, who didn't like how serious the conversation became decided to speak up and said, "You know what Urameshi, I'm getting bored of video games."

"What do you propose we do, Kuwabara?" Kurama asked.

"I know. Let's wake the Shorty up," Yusuke proposed, his eyes twinkling with mischief and a huge grin settling in place of the somber expression.

Kurama sighed shaking his head and said, "We shouldn't do that Yus-", only to be cut-off by Kuwabara who yelled, "Let's do that, Urameshi" and they were both off.

"Shouldn't we stop them, Master Genkai? After all Hiei's energy is extremely concentrated in that room. Anyone who enters that room now will end up getting instant third-degree burns, even someone like Yusuke and Kumabara," Kurama asked looking worriedly at the door.

"Then it's their fault, Kurama. They are being stupid. They should know when to disturb a person and when not to just by feeling their energy. It's their fault for not reading Hiei's energy properly," she replied looking just as placid as always

"But the main concern I have now is why Hiei's energy has taken such a defensive note. His survival instincts have gone through the roof. He's never gotten like this before especially not with us," Kurama pondered out loud.

"You may be right, Kurama. But you haven't noticed how his energy is hovering. Close your eyes and do it, you may learn something useful," she said gruffly.

He closed his eyes and humored her request. What he noticed was something he hadn't felt before. Hiei's other companion wasn't there. His eyes snapped open. He continued to feel. _That's not true._Her_energy is masked,_he thought to himself. His eyes widened as put two and two together.

"Hiei is actually using his own energy to mask his companion's and what's more he seems rather protective-" he got cut-off as the door to the living room burst open and Yusuke and his co-conspirator were standing there looking absolutely mesmerized and just a bit freaked out.

Kurama could only hope the cat hadn't done anything drastic to his two friends.

"What happened, Dimwit?" Genkai asked looking up calmly at her student "I thought you were about to 'wake the Shorty up'." Yusuke instantly sobered and Kuwabara followed him soon enough.

"Nothing happened, Grandma," Yusuke grumbled and Kuwabara nodded, "and we thought not to wake him up and don't give me that look Grandma. Hiei's little pet told us not to disturb him and we noticed how thick his energy was inside room and decided not to intrude. The damn cat is telepathic, you know."

With that both the 19 year olds went back to playing video games. Kurama couldn't help but notice that Yusuke's voice had a defensive edge. And that was when Keiko and Yukina came asking for them to get to the kitchen so they could all eat. They all made their way to the kitchen and saw that half the table was set up already. Kuwabara soon went to help his love set up the whole table. And soon everyone was sitting back and enjoying the lunch the two women cooked.

"Looks like we'll need more. I'll go get some," Yukina said as she stood up and Kuwabara stood up to volunteer. But he didn't get far as he froze the second Yukina went towards the door. And they all stiffened as they felt Hiei moving to where they were situated.

"What's wrong, Yusuke?" Keiko asked.

It wasn't Yusuke who answered her question however, it was Genkai.

"Hiei and his companions are making their way over."

"Anyone bet on the Shrimp's size. I say he's as shrimpy as ever. Haha," Kuwabara said softly so as not to let Hiei hear. Kurama knew Kuwbara had been worried about Hiei because that was the exact same thing a person like him would say when they were likely covering up their concern.

However Kurama was the only one to hear Genkai say, "You'd be surprised, Dimwit," calmly with a small smirk on her face. And Kurama was left to ponder Genkai's words

And soon they heard Yukina talking rather excitedly to Hiei and they heard quiet voice answering her excited questions more like grunting softly every now and then.

Soon Yukina was stepping into the room saying, "Look whose finally awake guys! Hiei-san, please come in."

They could only guess that the last statement was meant for his companions.

So they all waited with bated breath for the few seconds it took for Hiei to step in to the room. The second all their eyes landed on Hiei and his companions though, their eyes widened and their jaws hit the ground. And Genkai's smirk grew bigger.

**Review, fav and follow...**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the second chapter people. The third chapter is halfway done and I'm deleting the previous second one to post this. Hope you don't mind the late update….**

**The thing I found about myself in the last couple of months is that I get lost in reading so much fanfiction that I don't have time to write at all. Hopefully that will be fixed because my holidays are done and school already started. So updates will be a bit regular.**

**Chapter 2**

_Soon Yukina was stepping into the room saying, "Look whose finally awake guys! Hiei-san, please come in and you should come in too, guys."_

_They could only guess the last statement was meant for his companions._

_So they all waited with bated breath for the few seconds it took Hiei to step in to the room. The second all their eyes landed on Hiei and his companions though, their eyes widened and their jaws hit the ground and Genkai's smirk only grew bigger._

Because the Hiei that was standing before was not the Hiei they knew at all. He was now standing at nearly Kuwabara's height, making him taller than both Kurama and Yusuke. What was also shocking was that the hair that actually made Hiei look a couple of inches taller was now hanging flat and close to waist length with a long white fore-lock hanging over his left shoulder. He was surprised that anyone could change so drastically in a span of six to seven months.

But there were things that hadn't changed too. Like the coldness in his gaze or his predominant obsession with black, Kurama noted with slight amusement.

Hiei's growth spurt wasn't as surprising though now that he thought about. Yukina had grown too. She now stood at a good height of nearly five foot seven. He could, however tell that he was the only one who made the connection between Yukina's and Hiei's overlapping growth spurts at the moment other than Genkai as she had time to think about it. So he had been the first to snap out of his shock and stood up to greet him.

"Hello Hiei. It's been awhile old friend," he said going to him. The others slowly seemed to get out of their stupor now as they too stood warily trying to get their mouths to speak.

And Yusuke with his ever big mouth yelled, "Man Hiei. You grew. This isn't fair, man. I am now officially the shortest on the te-".

He stopped abruptly however as one of Hiei's companions gave out a low growl. The growl was a warning to stay back and Yusuke although startled at the growl backed away slowly. Hiei simply looked down to the side. He then went onto survey each and every single person present in the room and walked past all of them to open the window. The temperature in the room dropped as Hiei let the cool air inside. Kurama noticed Keiko shiver slightly and out of the corner of his eye watched Yusuke pull her close to him. Kurama turned his attention to the companions once again.

The one he'd met before greeted him in what would be a cat variation of a smirk. Kurama then took the opportunity to really look at Hiei's other companion. As soon as Genkai told them about Hiei's companion his thoughts went to speculate a fully grown adult demon who probably requested protection. What he'd never thought of was that the demon could have been a child, a child who looked especially miffed at the present moment.

The child looked to be around 8 years old but he as a demon knew not to speculate on the age of a demon- a child especially. She had blood red hair and tiny freckles on her child like face and eyes the color of the sky. It was to this small demon child all their attention turned to. Kuwabara was about to say something when Yukina nudged him to keep quiet and he acquiesced. Their attention shifted back to Hiei when turned around and beckoned the child to him with a finger.

"She's so cute," he heard Keiko whisper to Yukina who was standing next to her.

He stood in front her, towering over her and stared into her deep blue eyes- which seemed a bit too large for her small face- intently for a few seconds. There seemed to be no emotion in his eyes as they looked into hers. The same could not be said for the child though, Kurama thought bemused. The child's face showed all the irritation and frustration a human child's would when brought into an unfamiliar place. She glared at him but his eyes only turned stern as they encountered her glare. _Almost like a parent or a guardian._

Kuwabara pointed to the cat- being the cat lover he was- as the others were watching the silent stand-off. The cat was now watching them with a bemused expression as she stared back and forth between to two of them as if watching them converse verbally. He realized a second later that, that was probably true as he eyed the expression. The cat met Kurama's eye for a second indicating that he was correct in assuming.

Her soothing voice sounded in his mind, _it's almost over now._

The next words from Hiei confirmed the message she's sent him telepathically.

"Two hours, maybe three at the most and that's final," he said with finality to his voice they were all well acquainted to. He shook his head when she opened her mouth to protest. A low growl started rumbling in the child's throat before Hiei's own warning glare stopped her.

The child's face hardened at that and she met his face with a defiant stare before she climbed out the window and disappeared from everyone's view.

"Hie-"

"Rara," he said, interrupting whatever Yusuke was about to say. Hiei was now standing at the window, watching the path the child took to disappear. The cat now stood up and lunged gracefully onto his shoulders and licked his face. Hiei's face scrunched up in disgust and cat released a pleased sound at the sight. He glanced at the cat's eyes and then the cat too followed the child moving with inhuman speeds.

"Now wasn't that interesting?" Yusuke said breaking the silence, walking forward to place a hand on Hiei's shoulder only for Hiei to move away to the other side of the room. "I never realised that you of all people would get yourself a brat."

"And we didn't get to introduce ourselves either," Keiko said, "the child was way too cute."

"I'm pretty sure Hiei's told the child all about us Keiko, they didn't seem to be too surprised to see us all," Yukina assured her.

"Lose the cloak and sit down. You need to eat as much as you can for your body to heal," Genkai said rather demanded.

Hiei kept quiet as he removed the grey cloak that was covering him and tossed it to the other side of the room. The sight that greeted them elicited a collective gasp from all them.

Genkai had told them all that Hiei had been injured. But there wasn't a sign of heavy injury on his body. Of course there were cuts and scrapes here and there but there were no serious injuries on his tall frame.

"Go get him some food Yukina, this guy needs his food right now," Genkai said breaking them all out of the trance. Yukina hurried off to do the task while Hiei took his seat at the table and joined his fingers placing his elbows on the table.

The others too took their seats at the table and watched. Kurama noticed that Kuwabara was unusually silent and the thought sent alarm bells ringing in his head but before he could think about that Yukina entered the room and fixed a plate for Hiei.

"Here you go, Hiei-san," she said giving him a warm smile.

Hiei grunted his thanks and began eating quickly and quietly.

"So, who is the Kid?" Yusuke said breaking the awkward silence once more.

"A stray I picked up in the Demon World," was Hiei's short answer.

"Is that all she is? 'cause to me it looked like you'd taken her for your own," Yusuke retorted.

Hiei paused for a second and Kurama noticed some emotion enter Hiei's eyes before it disappeared. He resumed eating and did not answer Yusuke.

"Um..,,,,, how old is she, Hiei?"Keiko asked quietly.

Hiei paused once again, but gave an answer to the question. "Twelve."

"Really? She's twelve?! That girl didn't look older than six!" Yusuke broke in and Keiko nodded.

"Oh! You haven't asked the most important question, Keiko. We still don't know the child's name, although we know the name of that feline," Yukina said softly entering the conversation without being too overbearing.

They noticed that Hiei wasn't paying attention to the conversation however, but he answered nonetheless. "Yukari."

He was looking at the wall straight ahead, his eyes narrowed. He put his chop sticks back in the bowl and his arm went to his sword which was leaning on the side of the table.

He paused however, when they all felt the cat's unique energy flare. He made a pleased 'hn' and settled back to eating.

"It's seems they've found themselves in unwanted company. They seemed to have handled that situation well enough," Kurama mentioned quietly.

They expected Hiei to answer with a very characteristic 'hn' but were surprised when he gave them all a full answer.

"Rara can take care of any demons below the S-class level," he said quietly. "It's going to be a problem if we are pursued by someone stronger."

"The cat's that strong?!" they all yelled together, the last part of Hiei's answer getting lost in their shock.

He gave a smirk and went back to eating.

"Hey Kuwabara, don't you have something to say? You are awfully quiet today," Yusuke said, giving his best friend a smirk, "It's uncharacteristic of you to not shout at once-upon-a-time-shorty here."

Kuwabara merely shook his head and looked away, not meeting any of their eyes.

"So how did you and RaRa-san meet, Hiei? I would've loved to be a fly on the wall during that meeting."

Now that statement had Hiei's head spinning. His eyes widened almost comically for a second but a second later the cherry red eyes glinting.

"Damn you, Kurama. You _know_, don't you? Not one word or I'll kill you," Hiei muttered glancing away as if embarrassed by Kurama's knowledge of….. well something.

"Oh please, Hiei, you shouldn't threaten someone so half-heartedly. What would our Demon World friends think? Hmmmm.. On a more serious note, Genkai told us you were gravely injured. But you don't look that injured to me," Kurama said quietly. "More importantly your energy seems to have taken a sharp nosedive as well. If I had to hazard a guess your energy is somewhere between upper B class to a lower A. What happened?"

The atmosphere in the room grew serious again. Everyone tensed when Hiei looked up from the bowl because the look he had on his face would usually send many S-class demons screaming for cover.

Hiei remained quiet for a moment and merely looked down at his bowl of rice. He brought a hand up to his face and pushed his bangs out of his eyes, looking suddenly looked tired before covering it up very quickly.

"I'll tell you what's going on only once, so just listen carefully."

They watched as Hiei carefully seemed to choose his next words. That in itself was surprising because the fire demon always spoke his mind and didn't care about subtleties.

"Growth spurt."

Was the only response Hiei gave before he closed his eyes.

_Growth spurt? _Yusuke thought.

Kurama's eyes however lit with the realization of what might have happened in the Demon World a few months ago.

"That was you. The energy?"

Kurama's statement broke the contemplative silence that took hold of the room after Hiei's words.

He watched as Hiei stared for a second and nodded once curtly before standing up from his place at the table.

"Hiei, then _who_ wa-"

"Rara."

"The injuries?"

"Stray," was Hiei's answer. He strapped his sword back in its place and turned to the window.

"I see and the quick healing?" Kurama questioned trying to quickly think of anything else he needed before Hiei left.

"Latent ability. I'm heading out. If the kid gets here before I do, just tell her I'll be back soon and….. anyone who makes the brat cry in my absence will get their throats slit by that damned feline."

Hiei then disappeared through the window before the others could recover from his sudden departure.

"Will anybody tell me what just happened right now? Where did the Shorty go and what the hell was that conversation about anyway?"

Kurama sighed and looked at Yusuke's impatience.

"I'll explain if you calm down, Yusuke."

Calming down didn't happen soon though. Twenty minutes after Hiei left, all of them sat down in the living room once again. Kurama and Genkai seemed lost in thought and it took all of Yusuke's patience to not snap at them again.

Kurama then opened his mouth to tell them what that conversation actually meant.

Demons had very unique and complicated growth spurts unlike humans. There was no fixed rate at which they grew during that time and the rate at which they did grow, would depend on their energy levels. The stronger the energy of a demon the faster he or she would grow. But during this process of growing, all of the demon's energy is used for that sole purpose and is not regenerated until the demon is fully grown.

And the example Kurama gave was of his own growth spurt which happened a long time ago. Kurama had been an A class demon as a child and after the growth spurt his energy dropped to that of a C-class. So what they also learnt was that the stronger the demon was the lower his energy would drop-which was one of the main reasons why many upper class demons didn't survive past a certain age and why S-class were so rare among children. This was common to all the demons in the Demon World.

However there were things that changed for different kinds of demons. The interesting thing here was that fire demons of Hiei's kind often generated huge amounts of energy during that time which would usually make them extremely volatile and drive them to insanity. Kurama then went on to tell them about how Hiei's clan entered into a contract with the Kuro Neko clan of demon cats. These cats were known for their unique psychic abilities able to enter anyone's mind with ease and subdue them. In the distant past one of those cats were apparently saved by a fire demon. From that moment onwards these two demon tribes entered a contract to help subdue the fire demon when he starts to go mad with his energy raging outwards and the cats also promised companionship in the pure sense as pets.

"Okay…that kinda explains the whole energy drain and all but the injuries?" Kuwabara asked for the first time.

"It appears to me that the child was a slave in one of the slave trade organizations in the Demon World."

Kurama's statement had an unexpected effect on everyone in the room. Yukina's face softened and suddenly looked tired as if this reminded her of her own time in captivity at Tarukane's. Keiko's eyes filled up with tears that soon rolled down her face. Yusuke's held a contemplative look on it while Kuwabara looked a little disgusted with the thought of someone owning someone especially when said someone were kids.

"Still how can that explain the injuries?" Yusuke asked looking as if he were trying to seriously understand what was going on.

"There are demons who are hired to protect or should I say capture when a slave escapes. That's probably how Hiei's got the injuries; keeping the demons from capturing her again," Yukina answered.

"Seriously this is one crazy situation Hiei's gotten himself into," Genkai muttered not meeting any of their eyes as if she were hiding something. As if there was more to this situation than they knew about. This had Kurama's alarm bells ringing.

"What I don't understand is why Hiei's energy hasn't restored itself completely?"

"The Jagon's restricting him from regaining his energy completely," said a voice from the door way. It was the cat Rara who was standing with the child at the door that opened into the outer hallway.

The child immediately started looking around and sniffed for a second.

"Where's Hiei-sama?" the child asked, her small voice drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "He's not here."

"He left," Yusuke said bluntly. Kurama and Kuwabara flinched at those blunt words while the girls looked completely scandalized.

Those words had an unexpected result in the visitors too, as the cat snarled at Yusuke. "He left? B-but Rara, he told me he wouldn't go," the child, Yukari, wailed as she glanced at the cat. She looked like she was about to cry which had everyone panicking.

Her big blue eyes watered as she stared horrified in Rara's direction. She stared right back at the child looking helpless. She slowly made her way to the child and nuzzled her face into the girl's lap offering her comfort like a cat would. The girl lifted the cat into her hands and buried her face in her fur and let out pitiful whimper. 'He hates me,' she muttered over and over again.

"Yusuke! Look what you've done," Keiko screeched promptly before hitting him, "Yukari-chan, look at me. Hiei said he'd be back. Rara-san why don't show her? You've seen Hiei go wherever he has gone. right? So you know where he is, tell her. Please tell her to stop crying, Rara-san. Now, Yuka-chan, stop crying please."

"The human girl is right, Yuka-chan. The Brat's gone to do something necessary for our survival here. Come here, let me show you," Rara said. The cat promptly placed her paw to Yukari's forehead. "See, he's just taking care of things that are essential to us."

That caught everyone's attention again. A collective thought ran across everyone's mind.

_What was Hiei doing?_

Rara tilted her head to the side as she looked at the others almost as if she'd heard the previous thought that ran across everyone's mind.

"I don't think Hiei'd appreciate it if I tell you. Now why don't you and Hiei chat, and decide, hmm, Yuka-chan? Before that though why don't you introduce to these people?"

The child was nodding her head, closing her eyes, with an almost pleased grin.

"I'm Yukari. Please call me Yuka," the child murmured before perching on the window sill. She turned her head away from the rest of them and looked out into the forest. It had stopped raining about two hours ago yet the air was still cold outside and the sky still looked as dark as it had that morning.

The cat gave a sigh of relief before she muttered shaking her head, "You should all just be grateful Hiei doesn't poke around people's head in general like I do or he would've killed you all already. Seriously you all have such low survival instincts."

The cat slowly sauntered its way to the rest of them and gracefully threw herself onto Kuwabara's lap. Kazuma Kuwabara was a cat-lover and seeing this divinely beautiful cat perched in his lap he couldn't help but start petting her fur and scratch behind her ears. The cat purred quietly, delighted at the attention.

"You know Kuwabara-san if it wasn't for the contract between my tribe and the Brat's I'd choose you over the brat any day," she said quietly resting her head down further into his lap.

Kuwabara smiled at that.

_Ya hear that Punk, I'm better than you are at taking care of your pet_

"Sorry to disturb you Rara-san, but what did you mean when you said the Jagon was restricting Hiei's energy?" Kurama asked continuing the conversation from before.

"I meant exactly that. It's not letting him regain his energy completely and no, I don't know why." She answered lifting her head to look at the red head as she answered.

"You look way too intelligent, you know, for a cat," Yusuke said looking with his left eye closed, at the cat as he leant back on the tatami floor on an elbow.

"Ohhh, now I understand what the Brat meant, when he said there were far bigger idiots than him," the cat said primly lying back down like the Queen she was and practically demanding the Human to pet her which he did.

Genkai and Kuwabara snorted as the girls started cracking up and they only stopped when Yusuke said, "Wait Hiei really admitted to that? About him being an idiot."

"You tell me, Lord of Tourin, would Hiei agree to it?" she asked rhetorically not really expecting an answer.

"I'd guess not."

All the while, Yusuke noticed the child chatting Hiei's ear off mentally and he even observed a few pouts and growls here and there. He, however, knew he was not the only one to observe the child. He noticed Kurama staring at her with a weird calculating look on his face. His emerald eyes were contemplative, as if he were looking back trying to remember something long forgotten. He knew Kurama would figure it out eventually and he also knew that he would most likely confront Hiei about it. Because judging by the look on the Fox's face he knew whatever Kurama was trying to remember couldn't be all that good. But he also knew that if this cute child posed no immediate danger to the others girls there, then he would do anything to protect that innocent smile she had on her face accentuating those dimples. It was almost as if she were the very personification of her name, Yukari, meaning Affinity. It was almost as if the child was unconsciously pulling those around to protect her. After that he started contemplating how his life had been for the past nine year and half.

Life had been rather boring to Yusuke these days. He would go to the Demon World, come back after a few months and spend time with Keiko and the big lug. His life had been so easy for the past few days that he was slowly getting relaxed and getting used to the comfort. This getting comfortable business had a rather suspicious beginning. It all began with his bank account receiving money anonymously, large sums of money too. Yusuke didn't like the idea of getting money like that at all. It was against everything he went for. What if someone tried to blackmail him into doing something for them because he used that money in his bank account? So he forgot all about the money and went on with his life as usual.

He found out the truth of that money at Genkai's place from Kurama who mentioned the money he'd received and already used and that Kuwabara also mentioned receiving money. The truth was that Koenma was the person flooding all their bank accounts with money for all the help Spirit Detective work they'd done all those years ago. They only received the money after their supposedly eighteenth birthdays so that they would be adults and use the money they'd received appropriately. Needless to say Koenma had quite an earful from an irritated Yusuke. He'd also started taking Keiko out on dates. Their relationship was progressing quite well and they were thinking of moving into a new apartment they'd scouted. Keiko being the reasonable one in the relationship kept him from splurging all the money he suddenly had protecting his investments. Keiko was one scary woman when crossed, not that he wouldn't try to piss her off as often as he could. His girlfriend looked extremely sexy when mad at him.

Judging by the way Keiko kept staring at the child sitting on the window sill, Yusuke knew she wanted a child of her own and yet she couldn't have one until she was finished with college. He could definitely see Keiko with their child and that thought made him warm inside.

He shook himself off of these thoughts and noticed that the others had moved on with the conversation and were discussing the new movie. Now that was a pretty harmless subject unlike the thoughts he'd been having. What Yusuke did not notice as of that moment was that all the while he'd been staring at the child and contemplating things, he never noticed how Kurama, Genkai and a certain four legged animal watched him almost with similar somber expressions.

"Hiei-sama's coming," the child said suddenly making the conversations halt around her. Though the child sounded excited saying that, she suddenly looked pissed off.

"Now, now Yuka-chan, don't piss him off anymore than you have to. You already saw what he's been doing and he's already pissed off as it is," Rara said sagely, jumping out Kuwabara's la and coming to sit with her.

"It serves him right Rara-san. He scared me, he told me he wouldn't leave and yet he did. I am pissed off right now," Yuka-chan said with her mouth forming a cute little frown.

"Language, sweety. You don't want him to hear you talk like that. Let's go!"

"Um, where are you going again?" Kuwabara asked, looking confused. "You just came over and I doubt Hiei would want you two ladies out in the woods."

"The Brat was right. Humans are bigger idiots!" Rara said as she and 'Yuka-chan' although the child paused at the door.

"Don't worry, Kuwabara-san, Hiei-sama wants us to meet him at the beach," Yuka-chan said giving him a bright grin.

"Um… wait why?"

Kuwabara's question met a rather serious answer from the cat. "We need to make some false trails in the area and disappear from our pursuers' view. We'll come back before dawn."

With that they both once again disappeared out the door to Hiei if they were telling the truth.

"Genkai…." Kurama started looking desperate.

"Don't."

The conversation was over before it even started. Kurama needless to say was more than a bit irritated. The child wasn't what Hiei was projecting her to be. She was a lot more than that but….how? No, no, the better question would be where Kurama'd felt like this before. It was undoubtedly a long time ago because the past memories of Youko were getting hazy because of his continual refusal to use Youko form for the past year and half.

There were two things that were bothering Kurama were:

The child's heritage. The heritage was something that bothered him so much that he couldn't get his mind to focus on other aspects of this strange situation

Genkai. She obviously knew what the child's heritage and yet she wasn't answering him or worse she wasn't even entertaining his questions.

The conversation around him raged to high levels as Yusuke and Kuwabara got into yet another one of their pointless brawls. He noticed Genkai walking away and the aura around her told everyone to back off and let her be. So he let her go instead and soon he too slipped away from the room without anyone taking notice and found himself in a place that would almost always give him solace. A place where no one would interrupt him: the garden. He let a small amount his energy to seep into the ground watched. He almost smiled at the way everything around him came alive. _'Almost'_ being the key word in that statement. He sat down under a tree and watched hoping the tranquil nature around him would give him the chance to get to the bottom of this strange situation which came in the form of a blue-eyed child with blood-red hair with unknown origins or rather forgotten heritage so to speak.

He spent the next few hours trying to get his thoughts around, trying to organize all the facts he'd gained up to that point which were next to nothing. If only Genkai would talk…. But nonetheless he would remember if their lives depended on it. For one second he thought that their lives _would_ depend on this fact because his instinct told him that child was no ordinary one. Hiei at present was running around laying false trails all over the Human World. Now that in and of itself would tell anyone how strange it sounded. Hiei rarely bothered with subtleties outside of a stealth assignment, but they never even had them these days. Hiei rarely bothered with anything but this child…. anyone could see how protective Hiei was getting once they knew where to look and which buttons to push….

Kurama clearly knew it was Hiei's power-or the lack thereof-was and should be one of the main reasons why Hiei was making such a huge effort in concealing the presence of him and his companions which was, in itself, very strange as Hiei never kept any companions around other than their group. Hiei's lack of power was also strange since his energy should have stabilized by now.

He sighed as he took a look around the garden. The garden was filled with plants in the traditional hill-and-pond garden. He decided that the garden needed a bit of blue color and took a couple of hydrangea seeds from his hair and filled it with a little bit of his energy and planted it into the soil near the pond. He then took a garden hose and watered the area. Soon the plant emerged from the ground as a little leaf and then continued grow bigger and bigger until it was a few feet tall, flowers blooming.

It was now sometime after sunset and Kurama knew he had to head back inside. He knew Yukina would soon be coming to tell him dinner was ready. But to his surprise it was Yusuke who came to the garden.

"Nice flowers there Fox-boy," he said as a way of greeting.

Kurama stayed quiet knowing Yusuke would get irritated and soon reveal his cards to him. he wasn't disappointed because five minutes into the silence Yusuke swore.

"Listen Kurama, don't think I didn't notice the way you and the Hag were watching me before. I sense something fishy going on and you're the only one who would answer because grandma isn't."

"I see. What would you like to know, Yusuke?" Kurama asked as he turned sideways so that only half of his face was visible to Yusuke.

"Is there any danger from either of those _companions _Hiei's brought?"

"Directly, no. Indirectly they might."

"Explain," he demanded, folding his hands across his chest, his legs apart and his eyes burning. Kurama narrowed his eyes but answered

"Directly they won't try to harm us, not that they are incapable. They won't because they seem to have a healthy respect for Hiei," A snort, "But the people pursuing them might. The child seems like any other child of the Demon World but there is something different about her. But that doesn't mean she's dangerous to us just that she might bring that danger in the form of other people pursuing her. And yes Yusuke they are pursuing her as we speak. And I know that because Hiei wouldn't be taking such extreme precautions for a simple threat on the child's life."

"So the child is not a danger then?" Yusuke seemed to be thinking through the whole conversation. "Oh man! I thought the child was some kind of monster who would eat Keiko! And then I would have been forced to kill the kid and then Hiei would have killed me!"

He sat down on the ground cross legged and laughed out loud.

Kurama wasn't expecting that sort of reaction though, maybe a bit more subdued but not the extremely relieved reaction he'd gotten from the once Spirit Detective. Something about the Detective's answer peeked Kurama's interest.

"_I thought the child was some kind of monster who would eat Keiko! And then I would have been forced to kill the kid and then Hiei would have killed me!"_

"_And then I would have been forced to kill the kid and then Hiei would have killed me!"_

"_and then Hiei would have killed me!"_

"_the child was some kind of a monster"_

"_Hiei would have killed me…." "the child was some kind of a monster"_

_Certainly this couldn't be right_, Kurama thought. _The child_, Kurama felt his eyes widening at the realization of what she was. He stiffened_, no, no, no this couldn't be happening._

His realization and the subsequent reaction went completely unnoticed by Yusuke as the detective stood up, dusted his pants and walked in telling him to get his ass inside so they could have dinner and that he was starving.

Kurama was horrified. The child shouldn't be allowed to live. His long suppressed demon instincts kicked in as his now-softer human instincts struggled against his demon ones. He walked into the house, ate dinner mechanically and could almost feel Genkai's eyes boring into his head every now and then. But he refused to meet her gaze or anyone else's for that matter. Because one look and his control would shatter and he would kill the child the second she headed into the temple. He stood up and left long before the others finished their dinner; the food feeling like cardboard in his mouth. He felt the concerned looks the others gave but had no intention of paying any mind to it not when his control was in such precarious state. All he could do now was to sit quietly, rest and meditate. The meditation would calm his instincts down and he could once again be able to think.

He never knew how he reached the room but a few minutes later he was sitting on the futon with his eyes closed.

_Screams, feminine screams, pierced the air surrounding them. A small silver Yoko sat hunched behind the trees, his eyes wide, ears flattened to his skull trembling every time another scream pierced through the air. Blasts of energy from both Spirit and Demon attacked another one of the latter's kind, killing them all off. _

_A small petite woman- a Yoko- sat next to the hunched child, her arms holding him tightly to her chest, her head buried in over his head crying silent tears at all the violence that was being dealt to her fellow demon kind, her sisters-in-arms; friends._

"_Haha, why are they killing those women? Why, Haha?" a small child-like voice sounded quietly._

"_Spirit World and several males in the Demon World think it is required to kill them. In truth they don't deserve to die, they deserve to live just like the rest of us, child. But it is okay if they die, at least then they won't have to live in this cruel, cruel world," the woman answered, looking over the child's head at a particularly loud scream._

Kurama gasped as his mind resurfaced again. He couldn't think straight, his thoughts still in the state of inner turmoil. A glance at the clock told him that it was about two in the morning. He never knew when his thoughts disappeared to be replaced by the tranquility of meditative trance which in turn disappeared into past memories, painful past memories or should he think traumatic instead. He didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to kill her or let her live. He didn't know. He was sure that there was more of that conversation he had with his Yoko mother hunched at the tree, traumatized by the screams of those women. He didn't remember the rest; no couldn't. It was all truly frustrating.

_What am I supposed to do?_ He thought holding his head in his hands. Another hour passed. He knew everyone in the Temple to be in deep sleep. He carefully stood up and moved over to the window to stare at the trees outside. The scent in the wind told him it would rain once again in the morning.

He felt a shock go through he felt Hiei's energy coming closer to the Temple. All the previous turmoil return as his demonic instincts flared inside once again. This time though he couldn't stop them. He completely masked his energy, a skill developed from being considered the Greatest Thief to have ever walked the Demon World. He watched as Hiei came in through the front door this time carrying his target in his arms holding what would be considered as two travel bags. A small insignificant part of his mind noted that the clothes they wore were different from the ones they'd worn that morning and that the bag Hiei now carried had to be filled with clothes for both Hiei and the child.

Kurama crept along the wall quietly as Hiei slid the door, an impressive feat considering the child in his arms, and went in, the cat strolling quietly next to the fire demon. He crept to the door and watched the normally sullen demon carefully place the child on the futon. He calculated Hiei's lack of power and the cat's supposed power and decided that turning into Yoko would be the best choice. He also thought that that current positioning of all of them was the best possible course he could've asked for in a given situation. In the position Hiei was- his back to the door, his arms occupied with trying to keep detangle child from his person- the kill would be quick and efficient. He would knock Hiei out-and it would be easy as anyone with eyes could see how exhausted he was- and kill the child next second.

He took a bated breath and released quietly and acted.

**Whew there you the second chapter revised. I know it's a cliffhanger and I'm not sorry at all! :P**

**Anyway review and tell me how this is, criticism is accepted!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Yu yu Hakusho does not belong to me. **

**Check the end for some much needed venting form my part...**

The next thing he knew, he was pinned face down into the ground with Yusuke straddling his back. It was a discomfort to be held down but Kurama did not struggle, knowing Genkai who stood right next to them would not be pleased.

Hiei, for his part surprisingly, failed to notice what was going on in the outer hallway. That just showed how exhausted he truly was.

"Let me go, Yusuke. The child is not meant to live. She is an _abomination,_" Kurama snarled quietly. Genkai sighed.

Yusuke not used to seeing Kurama so completely out of control decided to just keep his mouth shut and let Genkai handle the situation. He had been observing the guy all through dinner and the fact that he barely ate a thing worried him and when Genkai woke him up the moment he felt Hiei's energy signature come into the area, he was only too happy to come over and help.

Yusuke had not been immune to the fact that Kurama had been behaving out of character for him and he was not going to judge for the onetime Kurama started freaking out. Yusuke knew Kurama and Hiei could be cruel if they wanted to but then again he never knew just how cruel they _could_ get. But trying to murder children, that was something Kurama considered low. Just what could be the reason for this sudden change of ideology?

They could all feel Hiei's energy even out for the rest of the night and were alerted to another's presence.

They saw the cat Rara saunter out to the hallway with what could only be described as cat like grace. She took one look at the struggling Kurama and knew what transpired. She made her way to him, sat back on her haunches and asked quietly, "Do you think Hiei is also an abomination, Kurama?"

The struggling figure on the ground froze as did the other humans in the vicinity. The cat however did not wait for an answer and continued, "Calling the child an abomination will mean you think of Hiei as such as well. Do you even understand why you want to kill the child?"

Not having an answer for the question Kurama remained quiet.

"Let me remind you then," she whispered, and placed a paw on the Fox's forehead.

Yusuke observed the exchange, Kurama's silence and the cat's words. Kurama went completely still when the paw met his forehead and Yusuke watched as Kurama jerked slightly and make a disgusted sound at whatever the telepathic cat showed him.

When the cat stepped away from Kurama, she asked him the question that had plagued Yusuke's mind the entire time he stayed there pinning Kurama to the ground.

"Do you still want to kill her?" the tone of the question was completely neutral.

"No. You can let go now, Yusuke. I won't attempt to do it again," the words although quiet met the former detective's ears and he slowly rose from his position on the ground.

"It's good you decided not to kill her. I'm not sure how Hiei would have reacted to the thought of the child dead. Trust me you don't want to be in the vicinity of that."

"Thank you for stopping me Genkai, Yusuke. I'm sorry you had to stay awake for my sake."

"You completely in control now, Kurama?"

"Yes, Master Genkai. I am."

"Good, I can get some sleep now."

The cat watched the exchange and waited for Genkai to leave, before speaking again, "Hiei is aware of happened. He was expecting you to snap sooner rather than later. So you don't need to worry about this. Also keep this news from the Spirit World lackeys please."

They both watched the cat turn away from them and saunter back into the hallway.

"So do I even want to know about what happened Kurama?" Yusuke asked, slowly turning around to face me. "I mean I did wake up in the middle of the night just to stop you. That is cruel even for you."

Kurama appreciated Yusuke's blunt attitude. It was as people would say troublesome to face sometimes. But most of the times it was refreshing for the Fox. He didn't have to worry about ulterior motives, didn't have to worry about death if he got the answer. Also Yusuke never assumed anything and usually- very impatiently, might Kurama add- waited for an explanation. It had to be the side-effect from dying twice.

It was usually Kurama though, who was the voice of reason for the team, but it was nice to know that there would be someone else who could be that when he was slowly falling apart like he had just a few minutes ago.

"i'd like thank you, Yusuke, for not letting me commit what might have been the biggest mistake of my existence," Kurama started gravely while Yusuke merely watched him patiently for more explanation. "This would have been the right kind of catastrophe that would have finally driven Hiei over the edge."

Yusuke'e eyes narrowed at the thought of Hiei throwing himself over the edge willingly and he could quite easily imagine the death and destruction and pure chaos his once-short friend would have caused. It was too easy to imagine really. They'd had to protect the girl then. Just another person to protect really, but Yusuke was sure Hiei would never let someone as precious to him without any means to defend themself, considering how Touya had been training Yukina for a few months.

"That child is special Yusuke, we should do all we can to protect her. It'd usually take a lot for Hiei to bite back at his pride before he finally asked for help, and as far as I've known him he'd never done that before either so..."

"I understand all that and I also understand you're trying to evade the truth of why you tried to kill the child but for once I'm not gonna pry," Yusuke muttered trying to hold Kurama's gaze as a chilly breeze picked up. It was usually warm most nights these days.

"I am thankful for that," Kurama replied for once meeting his gaze for the first time in the conversation.

"I have one question, Kurama, one I definitely want an answer for. You think you can do that?" Yusuke asked. Kurama merely nodded tilting his head slightly indicating Yusuke to continue.

"Is she a danger to the people here? The cat said something about not letting the Spirit World know of her existence. I'm not worried about the Spirit World because those idiots are scared of their own shadows, but I really need to know if she is evil or something."

_How perceptive of you, Yusuke that you guessed what'd happened to the child's own species without even knowing their abilities,_ Kurama thought wryly.

"I can't tell you why the Spirit World would be a bad idea, they'll complicate the things that are already complicated to begin with- what with their prejudices. But i can only tell you this Yusuke, the child's kind are some of the kindest species of demon's you'll ever have the chance of meeting. They're not evil Yusuke, they are peace-loving. It's kind of ironic if you think about it considering demons usually love all kinds of violence," Kurama responded looking slightly amused at the thought of the child being 'evil'.

Yusuke shot Kurama a wide grin before mustering about getting some sleep before the sun came up and Keiko as usual working as his daily alarm clock. Kurama had to grin at that. He turned around returned to his room quickly after that.

Kurama could slowly feel his control and his tranquillity returning.

Yusuke for his part was happy that Kurama had finally gotten back on track. He could now rest easy knowing they wouldn't have to hurt the Fox, because if it really came down to it everyone would take the child's side. He was quite pleased for this ending really. He soon fell into a sleep that was filled with brown haired, brown children sparring with him and the feeling of content that accompanied these dreams was enough to make him sigh in his sleep.

Kurama stayed there in the clearing watching the moon as the slightly chilly breeze began warming up. He could feel his lock flutter in the wind and the general feeling of inner-peace nearly overwhelmed him.

Kurama, for his part, knew that the coming days would now mark the beginning of yet another adventure; it would a lot more dangerous than the previous ones. The whole mess was shady but he knew it would take a lot more than the handful of demons and Spirit World officials to kill them, so he wasn't all that affected by this. He didn't even have to worry about Hiei, because RaRa said that the fire demon had been expecting him to snap sooner rather later. For a moment Kurama felt as though he should be offended by the apparent lack of trust but he could hardly be offended considering he really did snap for a moment. For now Kurama was happy he wouldn't have to fight his friends and that he could fight side by side when things would really shoot to hell. But until then he would be more than content to spoil the child and offer the silent support to his friend who was undoubtedly finding this entire situation difficult to deal with. But they would do it, like they'd always done it. With slight determination and a sheer amount of dumb luck they'd get through this too, he was sure of that. With these thoughts Kurama went back to his room and fell into a dreamless sleep that hadn't graced him for years.

**Sorry for the late update and for such a short chapter too. I'll try not to make it a habit. I was just under a huge writer's block and I felt like if I didn't get this chapter online soon then I'd never do it. So if there are any mistakes grammatical or typos let me know because this is an unbeta'ed story. So basically it's just little old me doing the editing which is hard. Anyway please think of reviewing, it only takes a minute to do it really.:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I thank all the people who've fav'd and followed the fic.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho but I do own Yuka and Rara.**

He woke to the feeling of tiny hands tugging his hair, more like trying to pull it out along with its roots. He could also hear people snickering.

_Snickering… people … where was he?_

He groaned at a particularly vicious tug and shifted only for the pain to increase two-fold.

"Careful child, you're hurting him," said a voice that he knew he should remember and found he couldn't place it anywhere from his memories. The voice, definitely that of a female. He felt small hands in his hair and something wooden passing through the said hair.

_Memories… does he even have them? What were they?_

"But if I don't pull hard how can I get the tangles out!" cried out the voice of a tiny child. _ How did he know that the child was tiny?_

_Child? Why is a child near him? How did he even know her to be a child?_

"Don't worry, Child, I'll teach you how to do it. Yusuke, Kazuma, if you're quite done with laughing your behinds off, I'd like some help," stated another person with the quiet voice- the calm to it so very familiar.

He heard the movement of feet. Two sets, one quiet, almost as quiet as his own and the voice of the calmer person- _how does he know that? _And the other, the very opposite of the word calm. It was almost painful to listen to such loud footsteps. He then felt larger hands on his shoulders, three sets to be exact- _though how he knew that was a mystery_.

The hands were urging him to move but he couldn't find it in himself to actually move to their desired position. The hands grew more insistent and a noise escaped his throat that sounded suspiciously like a growl. He could feel something stir in the air, heating the room and felt safe in the heat even as someone yelped and the hands on him immediately retracted.

"Geez, Hiei, no need to burn us man. Oww, that hurts," grumbled a voice to his left.

"Listen here, Shrimp, we're tryin' to help ya. So shut up and actually _let_ us help, you damn pyro," grumbled another voice to his left. There was chuckling to his right and giggling not far away.

"Hiei-sama is always cranky in the mornings. So cranky that even Mukuro-sama gave up trying to beat 'some sense into him in the morning' as she says it," said the child's voice again.

There were four names in the conversation he's heard so far, names he knew which held some sort of meaning to him. Obviously his name was Hiei. Mukuro was some sort of leader, Yusuke or was he known to him with another name? There was also that Kazum-

Soft, small hands?- no these weren't hands- all his thought processes were cut off and a strange feeling passed over him, clouding his already dazed mind. He could feel a sharp sting at the center of his forehead and a groan escaped his lips and no sooner that happened he felt a very familiar presence in his head, washing over him and holding him anchored to the other world.

'_Sleep Hiei',_ said the first female voice he heard at the beginning of the dawn of this strange world.

'_Who are you?' _ he asked resisting the very same thing, clinging to the anchor that held him in the sea of darkness.

'_A friend and a well-wisher. Sleep before you worry the child even more,_' she said.

'_Child? Who is she?' _

'_Sleep, you stubborn fool and when you wake up, you better get things under control,'_ and these words were followed by a feminine growl that resonated in the strange world with voices and he could feel the other voices' anxiety as the heat increased around him.

'_Hiei,' _growled the female voice and the pain in his forehead went up a notch. He could feel his fingers twitching, shoulders shake with the effort to do something to stop the pain but he didn't know what to do. He could hear ragged breaths coming out of his mouth and tried to stop or at least quiet them, but that only increased the heat in the room and the voices were getting louder and he could no longer comprehend them at all. That scared him more than ever. He couldn't seem to control anything and loss of that control was unforgivable.

Suddenly a door slid open loudly and there was hushed grumble of the word '**Yukina**'. And then there was a rush of cold into the room. Cold that seemed to welcome the heat into its arms and soothe it in a way that reduced the harsh burning heat into warmth that warmed parts of even his blackened, burning soul.

He felt the pain reach a crescendo when small soft hands touched his forehead and even smaller, softer hands touch his shoulder. And abruptly the heat vanished and he felt his mind turn even more sluggish. Numbing cold spread through his body and he relaxed further. The voices merged together and most of them seemed far away. The only presence near him was the voice that gently whispered in his ear.

A voice that said, "Go to sleep Hiei-nii. I'll be here to look after you and things can go back to normal after you wake up again. But until then I will take care of you and the Child you've taken under your wing."

That simple reassurance from that person, even though he knew something was wrong with that statement, was what he needed to hear- that person who was a part of his being, the lighter part of his soul.

And just as suddenly the anchor to the world of voices vanished leaving him to float in the darkness. And yet this time there was a familiar cold to it, a cold that set his heart at ease and he let himself fade away with the feeling of gentle fingers running through his locks.

! #$%^^%$# !

It had been eight days 14 hours and twenty seven minutes since Hiei first fell asleep, not that she'd been counting, thought Keiko. And the near burning down of the temple had happened three days ago. But ever since that day Keiko noticed that Yukina had been a lot more distant than normal. She still played with the child, helped her understand the customs of the Human World, tucked her in, played with her and held her. But without Yuka-chan around Yukina's nature turned colder. And the thing all the girls involved with the Reikai Tentei had discovered was that the deeper her thoughts were, the colder her nature became. This coldness was unlike the usually cheerful apparition.

Now too, Keiko watched Yukina go about chopping vegetables mechanically. Her mind seemed far, far away from this large kitchen. Keiko even without the ability to sense the supernatural, unlike most people of her group, could definitely feel the spikes in her energy every now and then, and the room would freeze for a few split seconds before warming again. Whatever had her friend so deep in thought could not be any good. But for some reason she was sure it had everything to do with Hiei's continued deep slumber and the incident from three days ago.

That had been scary, Keiko thought. She had seen her boyfriend and the rest of the guys fight on several occasions but never had she felt such high amounts of self-preservation kick in as opposed to that day. It all started with a small joke of how unmanageable Hiei's hair would get when he finally woke up and Yuka-chan being the sweet loving child she was decided to help her Hiei-sama and the result of the help had been Hiei very nearly burning down the temple. Those black fires…..

But apparently that wasn't the reason either. Rara had explained the details to them after Hiei finally fell asleep. The reason apparently was that there was a change in Hiei's energy composition. That kind of change would be fatal from what she's heard. Hiei's Jagon had been trying to restore a balance in the Fire Demon's body by taking some portion of his energy away, which caused more problems since Hiei couldn't get back to his full strength without all of his energy. This was such a huge mess. She knew that everyone who heard the explanation understood perfectly what had happened and it sucked that she couldn't understand this. Even the child had understood. But everyone made a unanimous unspoken decision not to bring this little incident up with Hiei.

After the fire incident everyone in the Temple grew very wary. They would not talk about it but Keiko knew they were worried for their friend. They would get this tiny little wrinkle in their foreheads whenever Yuka mentions her Hiei-sama. Keiko knew for a fact that Kurama and Genkai were expecting trouble in the future because there was increase in number of protection wards all over the temple and in the forest. Kurama and Yusuke had even taken up training seriously again. Not only were they training they also seemed to train little Yuka; though the child would quickly walk away from the training. Rara would often accompany them and tell them that only person who could get Yuka to train seriously was the sleeping Fire Demon. Normally that would be an insult to the veterans. But Yuka' shrill crying session when she accidentally hurt Yusuke-enough to make him bleed- was enough to deter them. She hated to hurt other people, was what Rara mumbled as she continued to pet the child's head in a complete role reversal.

Sigh….

Keiko suddenly got a reality check when she very nearly burned the broth she'd been stirring. She quickly added more water diluting the broth and hopefully cooling the temperature of the thing.

"Yukina-san," came the very concerned, sharp cry of Yuka-chan and I immediately turned to see Yukina. Yukina's finger was bleeding and yet she didn't seem to care for that. Everything happened in slow motion after that. Rara dashed forward to knock the knife out of her hands and immediately Yuka-chan's hands wrapped around the ice apparition healing the damaged and bleeding finger. All through this Yukina merely stared at the finger.

Keiko thanked the gods when she saw Yukina coming back to herself and apologiz for causing them to worry but Keiko heard nothing of it. She caught the eye of the child and they both gave identical determined nods to each other- an unspoken conversation happening between and Yukina was all the more ignorant of the situation.

'Take her to Kuwabara and cheer her up Yuka-chan.'

'Of course, Keiko- san.'

The usually observant Yukina was none the wiser about the conversation. Yuka-chan was all arms and legs dragging Yukina out the door even though Yukina was nearly back to normal and started to protest. Keiko very quickly reassured her that it would be fine and she could finish it up in the kitchen. A reluctant Yukina gave her one more apologetic look before getting dragged out of the door. Keiko then chuckled at how strong the little child was- managing to drag a willing demon away from a place was a hassle and dragging off a reluctant demon was even more difficult.

Keiko added a little more seasoning to the broth and added the vegetables to the broth and dumped the minced meat into it too. As she stirred she could feel her thoughts drifting towards the newest ball of sunshine in their lives. A small red haired, blued eyes angel name Yukari.

Yuka-chan was cute and she looked even cuter in the dresses Hiei bought for her; the nice little Human World outfits suiting her sunny personality. She was by no means slow. Keiko and the others had taken up teaching her kanji and math, and needless to say she took to it like fish to water. She could already do basic math, could read Katakana and even write. (She wrote up a letter to 'Mukuro-sama' as she calls her). She was charming and her innocence regarding most things was mesmerizing to watch; most of the time Keiko even forgot that the child was a demon child. But to learn that she had once been a part of slave group was so devastating. But it brought hope to Keiko knowing that Yukari still had all that innocence. And her innocence drew people to her like a moth to a flame. Even Kurama wasn't spared. And Yuka-chan had Yusuke wrapped around her little finger. It was so cute to watch Yusuke scramble to do the child's bidding. Their video game battles were of such high comedic value that Keiko couldn't even find it in her to scold yusuke for getting her attached to video games. If this was how Yusuke was around kids she couldn't wait to start a family with- no Keiko education first, she chided herself. She already knew that Genkai would tell all the stories she could think about instantly making Yusuke's nickname for her to hold a true meaning. Keiko did not know how Hiei behaved around the child but considering how the child would fawn over him saying 'Hiei-sama this' and 'Hiei-sama that' Keiko knew without a doubt that the grumpy fire demon was just as entranced with her as the rest of them. But the most astonishing display of affection for the child came from Yukina. She seemed to consider the child family. It was amazing to watch the usually affectionate Yukina take on a stern role even with the child. Keiko was pretty sure that Kuwabara seemed extremely happy whenever he sees Yukina with the child, just as she was.

Thinking about Yuka brought Keiko's thoughts to the talking cat. Rara was intelligent, sly, very quick to insult and 'a damned pain in the ass' for people like Yusuke. It was funny to see her run circles around Kuwabara with the poor man taking it in silence mostly out of his love for cats; most of the time he never even knew that the cat was making fun of him. But Keiko doubted it. But the fun itself was harmless. The cat like royalty would just saunter over to Kazuma and settle into his lap and demand to be petted. Kurama and Rara would often talk in the garden of things she had no idea about. They would hold conversations that seemed serious enough to warrant a yell from Genkai. Genkai would merely ask them to cross the bridge when they got to it, although what that was, was anyone's guess.

But now that the food was completely prepared Keiko said goodbye to her thoughts and quickly went about setting the kotatsu with Kurama's help. (He'd come into the kitchen at some point not that Keiko had noticed). He gave her a small smile which she returned and she knew that whatever the future had in store for them all, they would certainly be able to overcome it. For now she resigned herself to a very loud dinner.

! #$%^&amp;&amp;^%$# !

It took two more days for Hiei to wake; two more days in which the child had gotten significantly closer to the rest of them at the Temple. The second he'd opened his eyes, every single person in the living room stiffened to the point Keiko had to very carefully hold the child against herself so that if anyone did snap, she wouldn't be in the direct line of fire. But to their surprise the child merely grinned and skipped away from her, into the hallway and into Hiei's room. They slowly followed her and came to a stop outside of the room, where they could hear the child's excited chatter. Rara merely smiled and entered the room telling them all telepathically to leave them alone for an hour or so, so that the child could make him acceptable to having company. Kurama was the first to nod and walk away and the rest of them soon followed with Yukina being the last of them.

**So this chapter is merely a filler. I can't say I'm totally happy with it. Inspiration struck me and this was how it turned out. I would love to read what you thought of the chapter, criticism is appreciated. So tell me what you think.**


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